Are you guys still on track for a May 8th'ish ship date?
I've got a pair of Lambda Acoustics woofers ordered (a friend does too) and we've been laughing at how tardy those guys are at getting orders out. He charged my card March 30th, and the projected ship date is the end of april (ha ha). So I'm anticipating a virtual "race" between your goodies and my big woofers.
BTW, I'm using a pair of 15" TD woofers for a dipole bass experiment.
Sheldon
I've got a pair of Lambda Acoustics woofers ordered (a friend does too) and we've been laughing at how tardy those guys are at getting orders out. He charged my card March 30th, and the projected ship date is the end of april (ha ha). So I'm anticipating a virtual "race" between your goodies and my big woofers.
BTW, I'm using a pair of 15" TD woofers for a dipole bass experiment.
Sheldon
You know, this is a little late but:
A mono setting would be a great addidition. I am listneing to some early stereo recordings and that "instrument in each speaker" thing drives me nuts. Frankly a blend would be even better.
Sheldon
A mono setting would be a great addidition. I am listneing to some early stereo recordings and that "instrument in each speaker" thing drives me nuts. Frankly a blend would be even better.
Sheldon
Hi Sheldon,
I like your enthusiasm! As promised, I will try to keep everyone up to date on the status.
Here is a list of expected delivery dates for outstanding parts and anticipated schedule of events:
1) PCB's - The four different boards are scheduled to ship on April 29th. They should get to us by May 1.
2) The only items backordered are the rotary encoders. They are scheduled to ship on/about May 1. This is one date beyond our control.
3) I have not ordered the resistor kits yet. I don't anticipate any issues with short delivery on these.
Here are some outstanding tasks:
Order the resistor kits.
1) Build and test the APOX-1 (we don't anticipate any issues).
2) Finish first version of software. I am working on the speed mode right now. Then input channel offsets. Lastly, make sure the bootloader functions correctly.
3) Write instruction manual.
4) Kit the parts
5) Ship.
If, for some reason, the encoders are delayed, we will ship out everything else and send out the encoders when they arrive. A backup plan would be to use the 16 detent version.
Sheldon,
You are correct that some single opamps have different pinouts. I did find one that was not the same.
What is a blend? Would you want the two channels "summed" by an adder circuit? Perhaps, we could do this on the APOX-3. I don't think that you can do this without some active circuitry.
Another question:
Craig and I are struggling as to whether or not a discrete regulator is worth the trouble for the APOX-3. As envisioned, there would be 4 regulators needed to do dual mono. We think that a good, low noise LDO regulator would be "good enough"
Any opinions. (Yes, I do know that the LT1033 is obsolete). I just wanted to get some feedback on that style of regulator.
Best Regards,
Dale
I like your enthusiasm! As promised, I will try to keep everyone up to date on the status.
Here is a list of expected delivery dates for outstanding parts and anticipated schedule of events:
1) PCB's - The four different boards are scheduled to ship on April 29th. They should get to us by May 1.
2) The only items backordered are the rotary encoders. They are scheduled to ship on/about May 1. This is one date beyond our control.
3) I have not ordered the resistor kits yet. I don't anticipate any issues with short delivery on these.
Here are some outstanding tasks:
Order the resistor kits.
1) Build and test the APOX-1 (we don't anticipate any issues).
2) Finish first version of software. I am working on the speed mode right now. Then input channel offsets. Lastly, make sure the bootloader functions correctly.
3) Write instruction manual.
4) Kit the parts
5) Ship.
If, for some reason, the encoders are delayed, we will ship out everything else and send out the encoders when they arrive. A backup plan would be to use the 16 detent version.
Sheldon,
You are correct that some single opamps have different pinouts. I did find one that was not the same.
What is a blend? Would you want the two channels "summed" by an adder circuit? Perhaps, we could do this on the APOX-3. I don't think that you can do this without some active circuitry.
Another question:
Craig and I are struggling as to whether or not a discrete regulator is worth the trouble for the APOX-3. As envisioned, there would be 4 regulators needed to do dual mono. We think that a good, low noise LDO regulator would be "good enough"
Any opinions. (Yes, I do know that the LT1033 is obsolete). I just wanted to get some feedback on that style of regulator.
Best Regards,
Dale
harvardian said:
I can't speak for everybody, but I'd be willing to assist with the instruction manual. In fact I don't see a problem with no manual at this point, but I like a logic puzzle.
Blend is a variable mono of sorts. Mono would be like your mute where a single relay shorts the outputs of both apox boards together. Blend would be connecting them with a variable resistor rather than a wire and switch. It's useful for times when you have marginally recorded material where one instrument is in the right channel and one in the left. Mono slams them together but also removes any out of phase info. Blend is a progresive mono and is a little less of a "big hammer" approach.
Mono strikes me as something useful you could incorperate, but blend is essentially a third apox board and not worth the trouble. Blend has fallen out of favor just like tone controls, but if you have a blend defeat switch which disconnects the pot between the channels, it's a great add-on which doesn't compromise sound quality when switched out.
Three terminal adjustable regulators are a great tool. I'd vote for several 3 terminal regulators over just a pair of descrete regulators. I played with the sulzer (sp?) descrete regulators when I was doing my initial DAC designs, and to my ears it was better to have many three terminal regulators (one for each chip) than just a pair of descrete regulators. I wasn't about to do descrete regulators for each chip, that would have gotten huge.
Sheldon
Linear reg's
For the DIPCHIP guys.
I have Jung-style improved super-reg's available in kit, or built form. They are well-proven with some 70+ units currently in service and not a single failure, reliability or stability problem, or one single person who has been dissatisfied with the musical improvements.
I am currently out of stock of the +ve boards, but if you would like a pair for evaluation we may be able to come to an agreement.
If you'd like to email me, alweekes at beeb dot net, we can talk.
If you found that they were beneficial compared to alternative approaches, I'd be prepared to release the Eagle layouts to you, in the interests of DIYAudio members, on the condition they are only used integrated into your design, i.e. not stand-alone.
I feel they work well compared to multiple reg approaches, since o/p impedance is circa 60uOhm, rising to only 1mOhm @ 20k, and noise levels are at least 20dB lower than the best linear reg's. Line rejection is hugely better too along with other factors. They are cost-effective, compared to multiple use of the more expensive linears (i.e. LT108x series).
Oh, and they sound bloody marvellous 😉
Let me know if you're interested, the Jung reg's are public domain, so I'm not after financial gain, just a warm glow inside 🙂.
Regards,
Andy.
For the DIPCHIP guys.
I have Jung-style improved super-reg's available in kit, or built form. They are well-proven with some 70+ units currently in service and not a single failure, reliability or stability problem, or one single person who has been dissatisfied with the musical improvements.
I am currently out of stock of the +ve boards, but if you would like a pair for evaluation we may be able to come to an agreement.
If you'd like to email me, alweekes at beeb dot net, we can talk.
If you found that they were beneficial compared to alternative approaches, I'd be prepared to release the Eagle layouts to you, in the interests of DIYAudio members, on the condition they are only used integrated into your design, i.e. not stand-alone.
I feel they work well compared to multiple reg approaches, since o/p impedance is circa 60uOhm, rising to only 1mOhm @ 20k, and noise levels are at least 20dB lower than the best linear reg's. Line rejection is hugely better too along with other factors. They are cost-effective, compared to multiple use of the more expensive linears (i.e. LT108x series).
Oh, and they sound bloody marvellous 😉
Let me know if you're interested, the Jung reg's are public domain, so I'm not after financial gain, just a warm glow inside 🙂.
Regards,
Andy.
Hi Andy,
That is an amazing offer. The time involved with low noise layouts can be quite lengthy. I will contact you offline to talk about the possibilities.
Again, that was a very generous offer and I wanted to make sure and state it publically.
Best Regards,
Dale (Craig too)
That is an amazing offer. The time involved with low noise layouts can be quite lengthy. I will contact you offline to talk about the possibilities.
Again, that was a very generous offer and I wanted to make sure and state it publically.
Best Regards,
Dale (Craig too)
Any schematics out there for a good regulator for the pga2310? I finished my volume control using the pga2310 last week for my school project, and it works great, but I am still using a bench power supply for the pga2310. What chips will work good for this chip? Also, is it better to use 2 pga2310 chips, 1 for each channel? I am currently just running the simple schematic found in the datasheet, running 2 channels on 1 chip with no opamps. It works good, feeding directly into my inverted gainclone.
A question for Dale/Craig:
I am currently just using SPI for the PGA2310, but would like to move to I2C. Is the best way to just use a 16 series pic, and have it act as an I2C slave, driving the SPI interface of the PGA2310?
--
Brian
A question for Dale/Craig:
I am currently just using SPI for the PGA2310, but would like to move to I2C. Is the best way to just use a 16 series pic, and have it act as an I2C slave, driving the SPI interface of the PGA2310?
--
Brian
BrainGT,
If you are running single ended. a single chip is probably fine.
But if you are having crosstalk problems, then maybe you would want to use two chips.
The second question you kind of lost me.
The PGA2310 only accepts SPI, but if you want to use an I2C
interface to your board, then yes, I would use a 16 or 18 series PIC, Then use the hardware I2C, and bit-bang the SPI. (The CCS compiler already has functions to bit bang SPI) But the code is fairly simple with assembly or C.
Bit banging I2C in firmware is much tougher than SPI, so I wouldn't recommend that route.
P.S. What your describing is exactly what we are going to do with the APOX-3.
We also have I2C slave code if you'd like?
As soon as Dale solidifies his code, we'll start posting our source code.
Thanks,
Craig Beiferman
If you are running single ended. a single chip is probably fine.
But if you are having crosstalk problems, then maybe you would want to use two chips.
The second question you kind of lost me.
The PGA2310 only accepts SPI, but if you want to use an I2C
interface to your board, then yes, I would use a 16 or 18 series PIC, Then use the hardware I2C, and bit-bang the SPI. (The CCS compiler already has functions to bit bang SPI) But the code is fairly simple with assembly or C.
Bit banging I2C in firmware is much tougher than SPI, so I wouldn't recommend that route.
P.S. What your describing is exactly what we are going to do with the APOX-3.
We also have I2C slave code if you'd like?
As soon as Dale solidifies his code, we'll start posting our source code.
Thanks,
Craig Beiferman
dipchip said:
Craig,
Thanks for your response. I haven't done any extensive listening to my amplfier yet with the pga2310, but I will check for crosstalk when I am finished. Crosstalk does seem like a possibility with the closeness of the pins.
I am also worried about interference noise in my chassis, since I will have a pic, pga2310, transformer. lcd and stereo gainclone in one small 12" x 10" x 3" chassis... it does all fit though, and I am using shielded cable for interconnecting components.
I already have some bit banged serial code written that I have used for my vfd (doesn't have a chip select, so normal spi doesn't work).
I was actually thinking about trying to make an I2C slave -> SPI device using one of those 8 pin pics. Microchip has the PICkit 1, which digikey sells for $35 now. It even includes a c compiler. My roommate just ordered one, so I will let you know how it works out. I like the idea of a small 8 pin chip for the conversion, instead of the larger 20 pin part.
--
Brian
Dale's firmware
I just want to let you know, I've played a little with Dale's new firmware for the APOX-IR1 (The user interface board). I can't believe how much functionality he has added to the firmware.
You can do all sorts of cool things now.
ex.
1.) You can change the input select names right from the front panel. These custom names are then stored to EEPROM.
2.) He has a velocity type mode for the volume control. (Move fast, large change. Move slow, 1 unit change) He also allows you to change the max unit change, so you can customize the feel. I made it so 1 fast knob rotation would go to full volume. and then you just move the knob slowly for fine control. It was pretty cool!
3.) You can change the contrast and LED backlighting brightness from the front panel. (values are stoed into EEPROM)
He has alot more stuff, but I'll let him describe it.
I'll try to make him, make a list of all of the features, and I'll post it on the web site.
We also have a few big boxes of parts now. I can't wait for the PCB's to come in.
I know some of you are itching to get the boards, and I promise
that Dale and I will make every effort to ship ASAP.
Also, please keep those orders coming. We still haven't broken even yet. (Actually Dale hasn't broken even yet.) Dale laid out over $5000 in parts. (The real funny part is that his wife doesn't know he spent all that money yet
)
-Craig Beiferman
I just want to let you know, I've played a little with Dale's new firmware for the APOX-IR1 (The user interface board). I can't believe how much functionality he has added to the firmware.
You can do all sorts of cool things now.
ex.
1.) You can change the input select names right from the front panel. These custom names are then stored to EEPROM.
2.) He has a velocity type mode for the volume control. (Move fast, large change. Move slow, 1 unit change) He also allows you to change the max unit change, so you can customize the feel. I made it so 1 fast knob rotation would go to full volume. and then you just move the knob slowly for fine control. It was pretty cool!
3.) You can change the contrast and LED backlighting brightness from the front panel. (values are stoed into EEPROM)
He has alot more stuff, but I'll let him describe it.
I'll try to make him, make a list of all of the features, and I'll post it on the web site.
We also have a few big boxes of parts now. I can't wait for the PCB's to come in.
I know some of you are itching to get the boards, and I promise
that Dale and I will make every effort to ship ASAP.
Also, please keep those orders coming. We still haven't broken even yet. (Actually Dale hasn't broken even yet.) Dale laid out over $5000 in parts. (The real funny part is that his wife doesn't know he spent all that money yet
)-Craig Beiferman
Craig,
I am happy that you guys are making such good progress 🙂
I have a question relating to Apox-1 relay switching. Would you be able to post the sequence that you are planning to use, or at least confirm that the high resistance series modes are not used at high volume settings?
For those of us who don't program any more, perhaps a compiled version of your C++ code would be useful as well 🙂
Petter
I am happy that you guys are making such good progress 🙂
I have a question relating to Apox-1 relay switching. Would you be able to post the sequence that you are planning to use, or at least confirm that the high resistance series modes are not used at high volume settings?
For those of us who don't program any more, perhaps a compiled version of your C++ code would be useful as well 🙂
Petter
There is more,
I have just finished designing a front panel with lens adapter for the IR1. Dale and I, are going to be machining out a prototype soon.
I have just finished designing a front panel with lens adapter for the IR1. Dale and I, are going to be machining out a prototype soon.
Re: Dale's firmware
Alas, poor Dale. I knew him well ....
mlloyd1
(who learned his lesson and is secretly saving his pennies for an order)
Alas, poor Dale. I knew him well ....
mlloyd1
(who learned his lesson and is secretly saving his pennies for an order)
dipchip said:.....
The real funny part is that his wife doesn't know he spent all that money yet
-Craig
APOX-1 program
Petter,
For the program I wrote, I included the two output files that the program generated, So I thought an .exe would not be neccesary.
But if you look at the included files.
zip file here
Look inside the rtable.h file. This is the C header file that my program generated for the PIC.
If you look at two values in { }
The first is the relay settings for the pass resistors.
The second number is the relays setting for the shunt resistors.
The pass resistor relay setting is interpreted as follows:
Assume there are three series pass resistors
RPASS0 (largest value)
RPASS1 (middle value)
RPASS2 (smallest value)
0 = RPASS0
1 = RPASS0 || RPASS1
2 = RPASS0 || RPASS2
3 = RPASS0 || RPASS1 || RPASS2
For the Shunt Value:
This number is the binary value of the 8 possible shunt relays
the MSB of this number is actually the smallest resistor.
The LSB is the largest shunt resistor.
A 255 would indicate all of the relays are activated.
0, all relays are off.
Hope that helps,
Craig Beiferman
Petter,
For the program I wrote, I included the two output files that the program generated, So I thought an .exe would not be neccesary.
But if you look at the included files.
zip file here
Look inside the rtable.h file. This is the C header file that my program generated for the PIC.
If you look at two values in { }
The first is the relay settings for the pass resistors.
The second number is the relays setting for the shunt resistors.
The pass resistor relay setting is interpreted as follows:
Assume there are three series pass resistors
RPASS0 (largest value)
RPASS1 (middle value)
RPASS2 (smallest value)
0 = RPASS0
1 = RPASS0 || RPASS1
2 = RPASS0 || RPASS2
3 = RPASS0 || RPASS1 || RPASS2
For the Shunt Value:
This number is the binary value of the 8 possible shunt relays
the MSB of this number is actually the smallest resistor.
The LSB is the largest shunt resistor.
A 255 would indicate all of the relays are activated.
0, all relays are off.
Hope that helps,
Craig Beiferman
Ladies and gentlemen we are gathered here today to pay our last respects to our dear friend Dale who passed suddenly.
Anthony
As Rumpole would say "She who must be obeyed"
Guess who has my soul...
I must have the most trusting wife ever. I actually told her that I spent our son's college money on our new business. She just said "I hope you know what you are doing".
By the way, where is the nearest shelter?
Craig, I am not getting worried. We both know the risks of starting a new venture. Especially one in audio.
I am a firm believer that products need to sell themselves. If our product stinks, please tell us (and others). If it needs improvments, please tell us, if it's great, please tell us.
I really hate internet hype. Seems to be rampant in audio.
Also, please don't buy our kit because you feel guilty. If I lose money. That's my problem... Buy it because it is the best solution for your audio system. It won't be the best solution for everyone.
Think of the fun we are having and all the new friends that we have made.
The absolute best part is the ability to collaborate and correspond to people all over the world. That really sound corny, but I just finished emailing someone in Hong Kong, another in Brazil, Greece, Indonesia...
This really is the best audio site!
Dale
Re: Dale's firmware
I told you that would be cool, but nobody listened to me... 🙂
Thanks for implimenting it, that's super sweet.
Sheldon
dipchip said:
2.) He has a velocity type mode for the volume control. (Move fast, large change. Move slow, 1 unit change) He also allows you to change the max unit change, so you can customize the feel. I made it so 1 fast knob rotation would go to full volume. and then you just move the knob slowly for fine control. It was pretty cool!
I told you that would be cool, but nobody listened to me... 🙂
Thanks for implimenting it, that's super sweet.
Sheldon
harvardian said:
Dale, not to worry. Jen and I have a guest bedroom that you can stay in if it comes down to that.
Luckily you live close by!She thinks you are a bad influence on me though
You and Craig are doing a helluva job! It's great to have engineers design products from what the audio community is looking for, based on feedback online. If you guys do this for all future products, you're destined for success
Thanks for all your hard work and patience!
-Vinnie
How did you implement changing the contrast and backlight on the lcd? Did you use a digital potentiometer? Which one would you recommend?
--
Brian
--
Brian
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